Gearbox and clutch removal/maintenance tips

Drivetrain problems

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Gearbox and clutch removal/maintenance tips

Postby Alan Head » Fri 26.07.2013, 19:16

I've had my Elan for a couple of years and now plan to do some work on the gearbox.

I find that the synchromesh on 3rd gear is not as good as I would like. It's not too bad but a miss-timed gear change can cause an occasional crunch.

The previous owner, John (M100 TWO) has done a great job of maintaining the car so I suspect it is time to buy a new 3rd, 4th synchro assembly.

I plan to purchase the following :-

3rd, 4th gear synchro assembly
Gearbox cover plate gasket
Driveshaft seals
Driveshaft seal insertion tool
Silkolene Pro SRG75

Is there anything else I should buy to do the job ?
Any tips on removing the gearbox from the car ?
Any tips on removing 3rd / 4th gear shaft ?

Thanks

Alan
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Tue 22.10.2013, 20:35

My Elan gearbox has now been rebuilt and is back in car.

I removed the gearbox then took it to Alan Voigt to perform the rebuild.

The box has new baulk rings for 3rd and 4th gear. Everything else inside the box was in good condition but I had all seals and gaskets replaced as well.

I put the gearbox back in the car last weekend.

The car now drives great with fast smooth quiet gearchanges. :D :D :D

I'll post details of the job once I sort out the photos. It was not easy to get good pictures but it should give a reasonable guide to getting the box out of the car.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Tue 22.10.2013, 21:28

loosendriveshaftnuts.JPG


1. Start by jacking up car, removing front wheels, pop out wheel centres, put wheels back on and loosen drive shaft nuts.

removewheel.JPG


2. Jack up car, remove front wheel, place another jack at the inner jacking point at the rear of the prongeron and raise the car.

supportonaxlestands.JPG


3. Now put car on axle stands at normal front jacking points. I have also placed a block of wood under the sills just in case!

removeairfilter.JPG


4. Now open the bonnet and remove the air filter and associated pipe work

removeclutchcable.JPG


5. Remove the clutch cable from the clutch lever. At this point it is also worth removing the bolt that holds on the expansion bottle.

removeclutchcablefrombracket.JPG


6.Remove the clutch cable from the guide bracket.

removegearsmallselectorpinandcable.JPG


7. Remove the spring clip from the smaller of the two gear selector cables and pop off the cable.

removelargegearselectorcablepin.JPG


8. Remove the spring clip from the larger gear selector cable.

removelargegearselectorcable.JPG


9. Pop off the larger gear selector cable from its pin.

removespeedocable.JPG


10. Remove the speedo cable by removing the 10mm nut and clamp plate.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby RayD » Tue 22.10.2013, 21:41

Excellent job Alan,

Thanks for going to the trouble with the pictures.

Ray
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Tue 22.10.2013, 22:01

removegearselectorcablebracket.JPG


11. Remove the three bolts that hold on the gear selector cable mounting bracket. This avoids accidently adjusting the cable lengths.

disconnectreversinglightswitch.JPG


12. Disconnect the wiring from the reversing light switch.

Its now time to work under the car.

draingearboxoil.JPG


13. Drain the gearbox oil by removing the drain plug.

removecaliperandtopballjoint.JPG


14. Unbolt the top wishbone ball joint. Take note of how many shims are placed in front of and behind the balljoint. there should be 8 shims in total for each ball joint. In my car there are also inserts to set the camber. Remove the brake caliper and tie it up out of the way.

The drive shaft nuts can now be removed.

The nearside drive shaft should be pushed through the hub and then popped or levered out of the gearbox. This can be a fiddle as it is held in place by a snap ring. Do not pull the driveshaft out as this might damage the inner plunge joint.

The off side drive shaft should be removed by removing the jackshaft bracket bolts then pushing the driveshaft through the hub. The offside driveshaft has no circlip at the gearbox and will slip out easily.

The drive shafts can be left supported by the suspension yolks but make sure they are not in the way of the gearbox.

prongeronfront.JPG


prongerondamperandbellhousingbolts.JPG


prongeronviewonramp.JPG


At this point support the gearbox and engine from above or below using a trolley jack.

I used a bracket to support the engine from above and I placed a trolley jack under the sump. I also put a strap around the gearbox and over the support frame up above.

15. Remove the prongeron and the front damper along with two of the bellhousing bolts. Start at the front of the car and work your way back.

removeexhaustdownpipe.JPG


16. Now remove the exhaust downpipe

remove4boltsfromflywheelcoverplate.JPG


17. Remove the four bolts securing the flywheel cover plate.

removerearenginemountbracket.JPG


18. Its time to remove the rear engine mount bracket.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Tue 22.10.2013, 22:08

frontgearboxmount.JPG


19. Now remove the gearbox mount. This has several parts, a damper and a couple of L shaped spacer plates.
finaltopbellhousingbolt.JPG


thirdtopbellhousingboltviewedthroughwheelarch.JPG


anothertopbellhousingbolt.JPG


gettingtoanotherbellhousingbolt.JPG


20. the only thing holding the gearbox on now is three bell housing bolts at the top. These are a bit awkward to get to.

gearboxinitialalignment.JPG


21. The gearbox can now be pulled free from the engine and lowered to the floor.


A few things worth considering before putting it all back together.

It is worth trial fitting the mounts onto the gearbox as you will find you have an awful lot of bits lying around.

gearboxnearsidemounttempfitted.JPG


gearboxnearsidemounttempfitted2.JPG


Start with the gearbox mount

gearboxrearenginemounttempfitted.JPG


Then the rear engine mount

gearboxinitialalignmentfrombelow.JPG


Aligning the box is quite tricky but perseverence will pay off.

I hope this post will help anyone considering removing their gearbox or changing a clutch on their Elan.

I scoured the net looking for a similar article but came up with nothing so hope this is useful to the community.



Regards

Alan
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby muley » Wed 23.10.2013, 07:01

Excellent post!

Thank you for taking the time to take pics and post them here - a very useful resource..

Rgds

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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Rambo » Wed 23.10.2013, 09:05

Could a head honcho or moderator load this onto WikiLEC so that it is available for future reference ?
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby HJ2 » Wed 23.10.2013, 19:06

Excellent stuff!

A really good write up WITH piccies :-)
Keep up the good work, gotta love this 8)
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby tb10 » Wed 23.10.2013, 19:09

:agree:

:clap:

:cheers:

Regards


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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Steve A » Thu 24.10.2013, 01:55

:bowdown: Great posting Alan,thanks for taking the time :clap:
I hope I never need to use it though :wink:
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby rip » Fri 25.10.2013, 21:51

Rambo wrote:Could a head honcho or moderator load this onto WikiLEC so that it is available for future reference ?

I'm not either but I have a wiki account. :D
I've put the info there but I can't work out how to embed the photos so it looks a bit of a mess at the moment. I've asked someone who looks a little like you if he can help with it.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby RichardK » Sat 26.10.2013, 02:01

This is excellent Alan, thank you very much for posting.


:cheers:

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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Sun 27.10.2013, 08:39

rip wrote:
Rambo wrote:Could a head honcho or moderator load this onto WikiLEC so that it is available for future reference ?

I'm not either but I have a wiki account. :D
I've put the info there but I can't work out how to embed the photos so it looks a bit of a mess at the moment. I've asked someone who looks a little like you if he can help with it.


Thanks for transferring the details to the WIKI.

I am happy for my post on repairing the bouncy headlight pods to be added as well if you have the time or inclination.

viewtopic.php?f=80&t=22415

Regards

Alan
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby rip » Wed 30.10.2013, 22:41

Alan Head wrote:Thanks for transferring the details to the WIKI.

Now updated so the pictures display properly.

Alan Head wrote:I am happy for my post on repairing the bouncy headlight pods to be added as well if you have the time or inclination.

Done.

Nice articles. Both useful additions.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby texas2201 » Tue 31.12.2013, 02:44

how long did the job take?
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby HJ2 » Tue 31.12.2013, 10:50

HJ2 wrote:Excellent stuff!

A really good write up WITH piccies :-)
Keep up the good work, gotta love this 8)



Turns out that at the moment i need this info just now! :cry:
Is it worth to replace the clutch whilst i get the transmission off?

And if yes, what brand should i use? (Sachs?)
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby dapinky » Tue 31.12.2013, 11:04

Henk-Jan,

"Is it worth replacing the clutch?" is a very difficult one to answer......

.....When i changed the engine in the red car it had about 135K miles on it, and the clutch (original - or at least, nowt in the huge pile of paperwork to say it had ever been swapped) was still good. Pleanty of meat left on the plate and no slippage.

That said, if you have a chipped car, it will be putting more strain on the clutch, so it will wear faster.

BUT - the clutch is designed to move a much heavier car than the elan, so is engineered to overcome much larger resistance forces than it encounters with us.

It is very rare to read anything on LEC about 'Clutch failure' so it is reasonable to think it isn't a big problem.....


That said, it is so much hassle to get that far anyway, so it may as well get changed whilst you're in there - not something you'll want to do in a hurry if you can do it at the same time...... and even if it shows no sign of wear at the moment, the springs on the cover plate will have weakened with time/use, and likewise the release bearing.

So, on balance, I'd say "Change it!" (and maybe put a new rubber seal on the crankshaft whilst you're there - just to preserve the new clutch)
Dave

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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby Alan Head » Wed 01.01.2014, 16:02

texas2201 wrote:how long did the job take?


My garage is rather cramped and I only have basic tools. The only specialist equipment I used was an engine support that sat across the engine bay.

I took my time as this was the first time I had done anything other than routine servicing on the Elan. I was also taking photos as I progressed. I took two days to remove the gearbox (Saturday and Sunday). The gearbox was at Voigts for 5 days. I then spent a further 2 days putting everything back together.

If I did the job again without recording progress I could probably get the gearbox out in 1 day and put it back in in 1 day.
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Re: Planning some gearbox maintenance over winter.

Postby texas2201 » Thu 16.01.2014, 17:38

Thanks Alan - are you in Hamilton in Scotland? If so I went to School there :-)

Where are Voights? just googled it and they are in Liverpool and how much did it cost to have the gearbox rebuilt?

Martin
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